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Starship Down
' |image= |series= |production=40510-479 |producer(s)= |story= |script= David Mack and John J. Ordover |director= Alexander Singer |imdbref=tt0708605 |guests=James Cromwell as Hanok, F. J. Rio as Muniz, Jay Baker as Stevens and Sara Mornell as Carson |previous_production=Rejoined |next_production=Little Green Men |episode=DS9 S04E06 |airdate= 6 November 1995 |previous_release=(DS9) Rejoined (Overall) Persistence of Vision |next_release=Little Green Men |story_date(s)= 49263.5 (2372) |previous_story=(DS9) Little Green Men (Overall) Tattoo |next_story=(DS9) The Sword of Kahless (Overall) Cold Fire }} Summary Responding to a request from the Karemma Commerce Ministry, Sisko takes Quark and the Defiant to a remote system in the Gamma Quadrant for a secret meeting. The Federation has recentty concluded a trade agreement with the Karemma, using the Ferengi as intermediaries. In the mess hall, Sisko and Quark meet with Hanok, who claims there is no profit in trading with the Federation. He begins quoting surcharges and tariffs added to the last shipment of Karemman fleece. All come as a surprise to Sisko. In fact, Quark has been cheating both sides to line his pockets. Meanwhile, two Jem'Haddar ships show up to punish the Karemma for doing business with the Federation. Sisko tries to protect the Karemma ship, but its crew drive the vessel into the atmosphere of a nearby gas giant instead. When the Jem'Haddar follow, Sisko decides to take the Defiant in as well. Crippling attacks by the Jem'Haddar leave Bashir and Dax in a turbolift, Sisko with a concussion, Kira on the bridge tending his wounds, and Worf in command in the engine room - though one of the Jem'Haddar ships is destroyed during the assaults. Eventually Worf dispatches the other. At the same time - back in the mess hall - Quark and Hanok defuse an unexploded Jem'Haddar photon torpedo and become friends. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # The episode opens with the Defiant in the Gamma Quadrant, again with only a hairbreadth of an excuse.. Supposedly the Karemma have asked for a meeting. It appears that less than a minute after the meeting begins, Hanok and Sisko have already decided the problem is Quark and are well on the way to a solution! Seems to me that the same thing could have been accomplished with a subspace memo. Or—if the memo doesn't strike your fancy—how about this? Hanok says that the Karemma uses the Ferengi as intermediaries because they know the Dominion would never allow the Karemma to trade directly with the Federation. At this Quark pipes up and says he's happy to report that not one Ferengi ship has ever been stopped. So, why doesn't Sisko get Quark to arrange for a Ferengi vessel to ferry him to the meeting? If he's dead set on going into the Gamma Quadrant—despite the strict and unequivocal pronouncements by the Do minion that he and his company should stay out—why not travel there with a bit of stealth? Why would you want to haul the warship Defiant in there? (This is like beating a wasp nest with a stick just to see how loud a buzz you can get from the hive!) It may not have been possible to use a Ferengi ship. # Hanok begins the meeting by noting that certain surcharges and tariffs make it unprofitable to do business with the Federation. The first one he cites is a 4 percent surcharge that Quark has added to inspect the cargo for Changeling infiltrators. Sisko reacts with "What! "? He acts as if this is a bad thing. Inspecting cargo for Changeling infiltrators is not a bad thing. Inspecting cargo for Changeling infiltrators is a good thing. If there had been better and more frequent inspections, perhaps Changelings wouldn't have made it all the way to Earth! (See Homefront.) Sisko’s reaction isn’t about the anti changling inspection requirement, but the fact that Quark has imposed a surcharge for it! Changed Premises # During The Adversary we learned that Kira was the first officer of the Defiant. (l found this hard to believe, but the episode does make this claim.) Yet in this episode, when Sisko goes down, Worf takes command of the ship. This actually makes a lot more sense, because Worf is a Starfleet officer. (It is a change, however, and it is therefore my duty to note it.) This change could be a consequence of Worf's appointment to DS9. Nit Central # Phillip Culley on Monday, March 22, 1999 - 5:57 pm: OK... A few things which I've noticed on this episode: 1) At the beginning, Kira is celebrating the aniversary of the Emissary's coming. Sisko came to DS9 on stardate 46379.1 and was declared emissary around then.. but the exact date is irrelevant. Anyway, this episode is on stardate 49263.5, and if Kira was celebrating the anniversary, then isn't she a bit early? Shouldn't this be celebrated around stardate 49385 or something? Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, May 09, 1999 - 6:31 am: Maybe a Bajoran year is less than a Stardate year. LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, May 30, 2001 - 12:56 am: That’s nothing! When I turned two, I realized my age DOUBLED in just ONE YEAR! I was terrified, because I figured, if this keeps up, I’ll be 64 by the time I’m seven! This episode is one of several that helps us deduce the length of the Bajoran year, as compared to Earth’s. Because the anniversary of Sisko’s arrival on DS9 is being celebrated by Bajorans in this episode, this means that the span between Emissary and this episode is either a year, or an even multiple of Bajoran years. What’s great is that whereas many DS9 eps don’t have stardates, both of these episodes do! Emissary was on stardate 46379.1, or May 19, 2369. Starship Down is on stardate 49263.5, or April 7, 2372. Now if the period of time between these two episodes was 1 Bajoran year, then a Bajoran year is 1,054 Earth days, or 2 years, 324 days (or 2 years, 10 months, 18 days), since that is the length of time between May 19, 2369, and April 7, 2372 (given that 2372fourth season is a leap year, and therefore, has 366 days instead of 365). Given that the annual Bajoran Gratitude Festival was first seen in The Nagus, and then in Fascination, it would seem that a Bajoran year is probably 527 Earth days, or 1 year, 5 months and 12 days (17 and a half Earth months), which means that 2 Bajoran years have passed between Emissary and Starship Down. This is further confirmed by the fact that the next Gratitude Festival is just wrapping up in the beginning of Tears of the Prophets, which seems about that long after Fascination. 2) After Engineering loses contact with the bridge, O'Brien immediately concludes that the crew up there are all 'probably dead'. Isn't this a bit of a pessimistic remark after the events of Disaster'? In that episode, Ro assumed the crew in the engineering hull were all dead. O'Brien immediately jumped back, claiming that that couldn't just abandon them. Isn't O'Brien now doing exactly the same thing as Ro? Brian Fitzgerald on Sunday, April 22, 2001 - 12:01 am: The difference is in Disaster, Ro wanted to seperate the saucer which would leave any survivors in the drive section to die when the containment breach happened. In this one O'Brien wasn't talking about cutting that section loose and giving up hope of rescuing survivors. He meant that they would have to figure out how to save the ship themselves and not base their plans on getting any help from the bridge. # Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, May 09, 1999 - 6:31 am: If this is a Bajoran holiday, then why is Kira working instead of taking the day off? Lots of people are on duty during a holiday, such as the military and members of the emergency services. # We see wisps of a gas leaking in around the torpedo, so why didn't Quark and Hanok suffer from fluorine gas poisoning? dotter31 on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 8:07 am: Perhaps the level of exposure was too low, or perhaps fluorine does not affect Ferengi and Karemma as badly. ''' # Rather than worry about defusing the torpedo, why don't Quark and Hanok just push it back out of the ship? '' Mark Bowman on Wednesday, May 19, 1999 - 6:36 pm:'' If Quark pushed the torpedo out (which would probaly be impossible with all of the airpressure outside), the room would be flooded very quick with gas.' # If all the systems are down, then how can Kira and Sisko understand each other? Shouldn't the Universal Translators be down also? '''Either they naturally speak the same language, or there is a working Universal Translator in their combadges.' # LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, May 30, 2001 - 12:56 am: Sisko is really laid back when it comes to food and drink on the bridge, as compared to other Starfleet captains. I pointed out how, in The Search Part 1, Sisko took a drink from a replicator on the bridge, despite the fact that the Enterprise never had such amenities, and Geordi told Sonya Gomez in Q Who (TNG), that food and drink by the workstations was a bad idea, even though the Defiant was said to be a comfortless, somewhat Spartan ship built only for function. Now in the beginning of this episode, Dax practically has a picnic going on on a console surface, munching on some stuff with thermoses present, while working with Kira, and offers some to her. It’s probably a way to maintain crew morale. # Even without a tricorder, shouldn't Kira check regularly on Siskos breathing and pulse? Maybe move him into the position for unconsious people, instead of letting him lie on his back? That could lead to more damage. # Why are there no med-kits on the bridge for emergencies? (probably were dismissed as too expensive by the same clever person who always dismisses the seatbelts.) '''Aaron Dotter (Dotter31) on Sunday, November 05, 2006 - 11:31 am: There was one, Kira asked someone to get it for her. Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine